Chapter 330: [High-Context Language]

Chapter 330: [High-Context Language]

<Japanese often changes meaning depending on the situation or intonation, right?>

<Ah~. For example, “sumimasen”?>

<Exactly!>

Iriena provides specific examples in response to the question.

Our language streaming sessions never run out of topics, thanks to our respective areas of expertise.

<Depending on the situation, it can mean totally different things. It could be ‘Excuse me,’ ‘I’m sorry,’ or ‘Thank you.’>

<Yes! Just that alone could lead to a conversation!>

≫When I was traveling, I saw Japanese people having conversations with just “sumimasen” on the station platform (Ukrainian).

≫It sometimes happens when people bump into each other, haha.

≫I thought it was a joke, but is it for real? (Ukrainian)

<Other examples include “Osuna yo! Zettai ni osu na yo!” meaning ‘Push!’ and “Onaka ga itai” meaning ‘Too much laughter’ instead of ‘stomachache.’>

<People hearing this for the first time might be surprised.>

<Absolutely! Among them, the most problematic is “yabai”! It has dozens of meanings, and I think Japanese people use this word too conveniently.>

<It can mean both ‘good’ and ‘bad.’>

<That’s right! Sometimes it’s used with completely opposite meanings, so you need to be careful! I think this happens a lot in Japanese!>

<Is that so?>

<Yes! For example, “arigatou,” “ii yo,” and “daijoubu”... You can't tell if they mean ‘OK’ or ‘NG,’ so you want clear answers!>

<Sorry, sorry>

≫It seems like there's a lot of frustration building up, haha. (Ukrainian)

≫It feels more like a Japanese problem than a Japanese language issue. (Ukrainian)

≫We actually prefer to clear things up by being direct with words. (Ukrainian)

This is just my personal impression, but Ukrainians seem to have a combative approach to conversation.

They want to debate at the slightest opportunity.

Or rather, daily conversations seem like debates.

≫Even Japanese people find this topic difficult, haha.

≫Iroha-chan, please come back, Irysha~! (Ukrainian)

≫If we leave these two alone, it seems like the lecture level will keep increasing endlessly. (Ukrainian)

<Oops, sorry!?>

The conversation has veered a bit from language acquisition.

Let's return to more basic topics.

<Umm>

<Iroha-sama, speaking of the same, Japanese also has many homophones, right?>

<Ah, that’s right!>

I ride on Iriena’s helpful prompt.

Nice follow-up.

<For example, when you hear “ame,” the meaning changes between ‘candy’ and ‘rain’ depending on the situation, so it was really hard to judge at first.>

<Ah~, pronunciation~>

<Sometimes, where you break the sentence can also change the meaning. This applies to both spoken and written language.>

<Indeed. Japanese can be extra tricky because there are no spaces between words.>

<That’s right! In Ukrainian and English, spaces between words are standard.>

≫Now that you mention it, that’s true.

≫Huh? How did we read sentences with only hiragana in first grade?

≫↑ In my daughter’s textbook, there were spaces between words like in English.

<Because of that... or thanks to that? You can play with words a bit. For example, a sentence like “senchou sanjuunanasai” can be read as...>

<“Captain, 17 years old” or “Captain, 37 years old”!>

<Exactly. This is called ‘ginata-yomi.’>

For some reason, the comments section was flooded with posts saying, “Hmm, both are correct!”

What? Why the captain? There’s no deep meaning!